The Beast of Agawam
by Sunnydale Knight
Summary: It's been two years since David Torrey moved to Maine, but now things are getting weird...
1. Introduction

It had been almost two years since David Torrey had moved to Maine. He had, of course, visited his friends, as often as he could. He had gone down for the Halloween Party he wanted to have, everybody was excited to see him, he was happy to see everybody. After that, he had visited in November to, just to see everybody again. In December he saw "The Return of the King" with everybody, except Kristin, because she didn't go, but he did make it up to her by taking her out to a very good dinner.  
  
Over the next year, things became harder, he didn't get into the Art School he wanted to go to, so he was still in Maine, with his parents pressuring him to go to school there. During the summer, his visits became less and less frequent, although everybody that could took a trip up to see him, Dave took them all camping.  
  
It was Holly who had noticed it, Dave was now a bit more rugged, he was getting very strong, very stocky, he also seemed very at home in the woods, he seemed to never stop, they went on a hike and all the time he would run ahead of them and climb a tree, seeing what was coming. Holly simply attributed it to "Maine Air," and thought nothing of it.  
  
Then Dave's visits stopped; there was no word from him at all. His parents said that he had moved out, apparently to upstate New York, Chris and Kevin kept trying to find him; they wanted him to live with them, as their plans of an apartment seemed very real. They had been looking all of their sophomore year. Kevin and Holly were trying to keep their relationship together, although Holly was in Rhode Island for college. Chris and Jessica had done well in keeping their relationship together, she had gone to Holyoke Community College, but only until she could transfer to Westfield.  
  
Sarah had done quite a vanishing act too, going to college in upstate New York. Chris kept asking her if she had heard from Dave, which she hadn't. Kristin had a good job as a chef and was somewhat working her way through HCC, although a very good cooking school was interested in her, she did not know it.  
  
Now everybody is on their way back home, they should all be reaching town in a week or two, and when I say everyone, I do mean everyone... 


	2. Kristin's Story

Part 1:July 1st:  
  
Kristin was walking to her car from work in Springfield, as she had a hundred times before. She waved to the security guard named Ted. He was always there, and, although he was a little slow, and not too bright, she did feel safer with him around.  
  
As she climbed into her car she thought she heard something move above her. Looking up, all she saw was black.  
  
"It's too damn late to be hallucinating," She said to herself. But from the darkness, a pair of black eyes stared back at her, and as she pulled out, growled her name.  
  
July 2nd:  
  
Everybody that was in town got together for a cookout, the first of many planned that summer. This one was special though; it was to celebrate Chris and Kevin's new Apartment. They prepared food and mingled as best they could. Kevin cooked the burgers, and Chris kept everybody's drinks filled with regular and diet Pepsi. Holly burst through the doors, although she had only just gotten back. She ran over and gave Kevin the biggest hug.  
  
"Oh, my God!" she said, "Did you see the news yet?"  
  
"No, why? What's goin on?"  
  
"Take a look!"  
  
Kevin, Chris, Holly, Jess, and Kristin filed inside and turned on the small TV. They couldn't afford Cable yet, so they had to actually turn to channel 40 for the news. They picked it up in mid-broadcast.  
  
"...reports seeing a large, animal like beast inside Springfield. Local authorities and Animal Control are doing all they can to capture the creature. Police Artists have given us this picture of the animal, and have warned all residents of Springfield and the surrounding towns to be on alert..." Nobody was much paying attention to the news anymore; they were all staring at the picture. It was a large face, long hair covering much of it, but they could still make out features. It had high cheekbones, and a low brow, making it seem that much fiercer. The drawing showed it snarling, and it had large teeth, the nose was a bit pointy, but still, the thing looked incredibly human.  
  
"Ehh...is it a full moon or something?" Chris asked, trying to make a joke out of the situation.  
  
"Oh, my god," Kristin said. Everyone looked at her for a couple seconds before she explained, "I swear that something was in the parking last night after work. I couldn't see anything, but I bet that is what it was!"  
  
"Wow, damn," was all Kevin could say.  
  
July 6th:  
  
Everybody had a good holiday, despite expecting to hear from Dave that day. They seemed to grow quite used to not having him around on a daily basis, actually, not having him around at all.  
  
Kristin was out for a stroll, cutting through the woods to Perry Lane, the kids had all gone, well, mostly, and she just wanted to sit on the swings and think.  
  
There wasn't much to think about, really, the guy was nice enough, and it didn't seem like Dave was going to come back again. Just as she decided to go for it, a kid came running from the woods.  
  
"Some...something in there..." He said to Mike Federico, completely out of breath.  
  
Kristin's interest was peaked now, and she had nothing to do until six that night, when she was going to meet Sarah at the bus stop. She went into the woods, figuring it to be a deer or something suburban kids don't normally see. She heard a rustling above her and, this time, when she looked up she saw the Beast staring back at her. This creature was scarier than the picture had portrayed it. The thing was mangy, and it looked hungry, very hungry. It also looked like it would have no problem taking her down, especially with the things powerful hands; each finger was tipped in a large claw.  
  
She waited a second before she ram, for three reasons; one, she was scared out of her mind; two, the thing was not naked like she assumed, but wearing tattered khakis, and three, because she thought there was something familiar about it.  
  
But then it growled, and although she couldn't make out words, she would swear later on that it had said her name. Of course, she didn't run for the camp, she ran into the woods, trying to get to her house. When she stopped to look back, there was no sign of the beast, none at all. Then she was knocked to the side. When she looked up, expecting to see the face of that monster, she found the face of Sarah.  
  
"You okay?" Sarah asked, getting up and grabbing a large tree branch, she swung it wildly at the monster, from which she had, apparently, saved Kristin. The animal cocked its head to the side, much like a dog, and let off a roar. Then it jumped into the trees, a good twenty feet and was gone before they could do anything.  
  
"Damn good thing I got home early," Sarah said.  
  
"H-how did you know I was out here?"  
  
"Your mom told me you went for a walk," Sarah said. "I had already looked at Phelps's, so I figured you must be here."  
  
"Why'd you get back so early?" Kristin asked as they started walking toward Sarah's house. Sarah still had the branch held tight in her hand.  
  
"Well, I guess you hadn't heard," Sarah said. "That thing was spotted near my college a couple weeks ago, so they sent us all home early, no exams or nothing!"  
  
"Wow, really?" Kristin only half asked. She was getting lost in her own thoughts. From Upstate New York to Western Mass in only a couple weeks, on foot. She supposed it could be done, but she doubted that it would get here before Sarah did.  
  
July 10th:  
  
They had seen nothing of the beast since Sarah had scared it off, and life had returned to normal, except that Holly was spending a lot of time at The Apartment, as the guys were now calling it. Kristin was working as much as she could, she just didn't want to deal with anything right now.  
  
On her way home that night her car died, and as she was waiting for a tow truck and her mom, three guys came walking towards her, swaggering a bit. One pointed to her, as she was leaning on her car, and right then she knew something was very wrong. She didn't run, she wasn't afraid of them.  
  
"Hey there, sweet thing, how bouts you come out and party with us tonight?" One of them said to her. They smelled like cheap beer and cigarettes.  
  
"Yeah, you could...heehaw...do whoever you like," Said another one. The third didn't say anything; he just made a lewd gesture.  
  
"Umm...no thanks, seriously, I have to get home," She was trying to keep polite, trying not to aggravate them. It didn't work.  
  
"Well, then we'll just have to have out fun right here then, won't we boys?"  
  
The other two giggled and snorted agreements to their buddy. They leaned in towards her, and she reached for her Mace in her purse. Suddenly, she heard a growl and a thud. When she looked up, the beast was standing behind her attackers, it was crouched a bit, but that was soon corrected as it stood to its full height. He towered above all there. The three boys, as they seemed now, cowered. The beast grabbed the leader and brought him up to his face, then, the most amazing thing happened. In a voice that was almost human, the monster said to the mugger, "Leave her alone." Although the words seemed to be said with great pain, they were coherent. The would-be mugger only nodded, the Beast sniffed the air, and then looked down, the mugger had peed his pants.  
  
The Beast tossed him to the ground, and just stared at them all. Kristin was still expecting it to attack, to tear them all to shreds and then turn its attention towards her. Instead, it just stood there until the boys had managed to scramble to their feet and run away.  
  
That's when it turned to Kristin. She could have sworn that the thing looked familiar just then. It looked down at her, and took a couple steps forward, but stopped when it saw how scared Kristin was. She immediately felt sorry for it, because it looked so saddened that she was scared of it.  
  
"I'm sorry," It said to her, the voice was deep, and gruff, but still had quite a human edge to it. "I did not mean to frighten you."  
  
It looked down the street and then jumped onto the building wall nearest. It climbed up the side like a rock climber, and then she watched it flip onto the roof and crouch there, it's animal eyes glowing eerily in the light.  
  
The tow truck turned the corner just then, and soon after, her mom showed up.  
  
July 12th:  
  
Kristin had had a lot of time to think about what happened. And in her mind, she concluded that it was some poor animal that had been in some circus somewhere. Unfortunately, the human mind likes to make answers that fit into the realm of normal. And this was not normal at all. 


End file.
